UK Woman Sentenced to Life For Stabbing Lover

A woman in the United Kingdom was sentenced to life in prison Thursday after a judge found her guilty of attempting to murder her lover, Gay Star News reports.

Chooi Cheung, 53, was found guilty of stabbing her lover of seven years, Leng Hie Tiong, 38, in the face and neck and she was sleeping. The attack, which occurred in December 2013, was reportedly prompted by Cheung, a businesswoman known as Julie, because she thought Tiong, known as August, was going to leave her and move back to Malaysia along with a large amount of money she lent her.

Cheung, who is married and lives with her husband Tony and two children, brought a knife from her home in Birmingham to Tiong’s house. The couple spoke for awhile before Tiong fell asleep and woke up to find her partner pressing the knife against her blood.

"I remember looking at the clock, it was 4:48," Tiong told Luton Crown Court. "Julie told me to go back to sleep. I said to Julie: ’We have been together for seven years. You feel I don’t love you,’ I said: ’I feel I really love you.’ She did not reply. I turned around and went to sleep."

Tiong added: "She was using a knife, pressing it against my neck. At first I thought it was her fingernails. There was blood on my body and I screamed. Then the knife was in my mouth. I was screaming."

Judge Richard Foster found Chenug guilty of attempted murder.

"I am satisfied you were furious with her for using some of that money to help her family in Malaysia and you thought she was intent on moving there and abandoning you," he said.

The women met in 2007 when Tiong, a chef, came to work in a Chinese restaurant owned by Cheung. They started a sexual relationship but were extremely volatile together, the court heard.

According to the Milton Keynes Citizen, during their relationship, Cheung lent Tiong around £38,000 (about $64,440 USD). Cheung will serve a minimum of 10 years before she can be considered for parole.